EVENTS

Dan Savage on bullying and homosexuality

Below is a short clip from an anti-bullying talk he gave at a high school journalism conference. It is a terrific clip but notice how when he pinpoints how the Bible is the basis for so much of anti-gay bullying, some of the students walk out. They just can’t handle the fact that their beloved holy book has so much hateful stuff in it.

But they cannot avoid the truth forever. They are going to face it over and over again from all sides.

All Christians do. The Bible exists. Christ does not — if he ever did, he’s been dead for a very long time. The Bible is conveniently vague and ambiguous. It can mean whatever the believer wants it to mean.

Those kids have a Bible that says “God hates some people so it’s our xtian duty to bully them.” Some people have a Bible that says, “We are all God’s children and it’s never OK to bully anyone.” Some people have a Bible that says, “If your tin-foil hat is properly adjusted then you will be able to find evidence of the Illuminati everywhere you look.”

I’m a mean old curmudgeon who believes that if something means whatever you want it to — it doesn’t mean anything AT ALL.

This is quite the talk. On one hand he talks about bullying and then continues to talk bad about the bible which is bullying to the extent that it forces some of the students to leave. This school journalism leaders need to think long and hard about who is speaking and what their talk is about. If a Christian spoke and said homosexual acts are wrong and it is illegal would the liberal media have jumped all over the organization. You bet they would. Dan Savage needs to find organizations such as glbt rally and speak there not at hs function. I find him very offensive and vulgar.

Liberty Counsel Director of Cultural Affairs Matt Barber said there is “no evidence” that LGBT people face either discrimination or violence, and Robert Newman of the California Christian Coalition said that bullying is “part of the maturational process,” adding, “I hardly think that bullying is a real issue in schools.” Fox News host Steve Doocy even hosted a segment called “Bullying: Crisis or Panic?” in which he asked if bullying is an “exaggerated epidemic.”

Do read Ophelia’s full post.

Coincidently, I saw a Youtube video, just today, of an ad in support of Prop. 8, wherein someone was moaning that calling them bigots and intolerant was bullying. I guess he just doesn’t understand that being bullied is good for him.

Disagreeing with the bible is not bullying. Saying things that are uncomfortable for some people to hear is not bullying. Nothing forced anyone to leave other than their own unwillingness to countenance their precious bible being criticized.

If the shoe was on the other foot I bet you would. I have no problem with DS speaking his mind but this should not be something promoted by a HS journalism function. I was very very disappointed in their choice of a hate spewing speaker.

Well Dano — I’m sure you are aware that you did not post that idiotic garbage on a site that is exclusively for mindless jesus-squeaking robots. So — I guess I will have to satisfy your masochistic desires. Somebody has to do it, right?

The ancient stupid comic book that you worship does happen to contain quite an array of some very vile, hateful, violent, offensive shit. The fact that you are too immature and/or too indoctrinated to handle someone pointing that out is your problem.

All Dan did was quote what the Bible actually says and why it leads to the problem of bullying. That is not bullying and it does not force anyone to leave. The students did that as a result of their own decision because they have been programmed to behave that way by some fucked-up cult leaders.

As for the “If a Christian spoke and said homosexual acts are wrong and it is illegal would the liberal media have jumped all over the organization.” — fuck you Dano.

You know that there are those hateful zealots spewing their hate propaganda all over the place — Bryan Fischer, David Barton, Pat Robertson, and a gaggle more fucktards — yes they spew daily and there have plenty of mindless idiots like yourself who are stupid enough to lick their shit up off the floor and thank them for it.

Just because you are fond of the “persecuted christian” lie doesn’t mean that anyone should be stupid enough to actually believe it.

Dan-o, which part was hateful? The part where he described the things the Bible says that no one follows? The part where he asked Christians to also ignore the parts in the Bible that say homosexuality is bad? The part where he said that the journalism students who did not stick around to hear opinions contrary to their own were pansy-assed?

Christians have been trying to get exemptions from bullying laws because their bullying is religious-inspired. They say that bullying is good for you. So how could Dan Savage’s words, which some say are bullying and are clearly religious-inspired, be anything but character-building?

Nothing wrong with Dan Savage giving a talk to a H.S. group, and nothing wrong with his message. They need to hear viewpoints other than the ones from their highly influential parental units, especially when the parents are empirically wrong.

If the xtian students want to express their disagreement by walking out, that’s their prerogative. But nothing in this scenario rises to the level of bullying. One might ask how strong these kids’ faith is, if it’s so fragile that one speech from a gay sex advice columnist can cause it to come crashing down.

I do take exception to some of the language Savage used. He uses colorful language in his column, podcast, and college appearances. Strong language is appropriate in those settings. Not so for a H.S. audience. He could have made the point equally as well without the inclusion of “bullshit” and the F-bomb.

They left because they disagreed with Savage’s characterizations and criticisms, not to “avoid the truth.” (Incidentally, the texts in the New Testament that support slavery are pseudepigraphal.)

I sincerely hope that you and that contemptible, socially-inept, loudmouth ignoramus with an outsized ego, Lawrence Krauss, are not representative of theoretical physicists these days, although perhaps you are, which would explain why theoretical physicists these days, in the aggregate, do not appear to compare favorably with their predecessors

They left because they disagreed with Savage’s characterizations and criticisms, not to “avoid the truth.”

Then they are going to be rather poor journalists, if when they disagree with something they run away. Also, ‘leaving to not hear what they don’t want to hear’ is exactly the same thing as ‘leaving not to hear the truth’.

(Incidentally, the texts in the New Testament that support slavery are pseudepigraphal.)

Handy that. Although I was under the impression that the bible was the infallible word of god. Or are you a non-literalistic but still trying to use Levit/Paul to justify your homophobia?

I sincerely hope that you and that contemptible, socially-inept, loudmouth ignoramus with an outsized ego, Lawrence Krauss, are not representative of theoretical physicists these days, although perhaps you are, which would explain why theoretical physicists these days, in the aggregate, do not appear to compare favorably with their predecessors

I agree, Greg P. Dan Savage seems to have an odd idea of what language is ok for a HS audience, but nothing he said amounted to bullying. However, it’s a good bet that these students would have walked out even if all the words were appropriately PG – it’s the message they objected to, not the medium.

I got a private email from the “Loving Bible” person saying the following: “That is just the kind of STUPID THINKING an Atheist would say.OH YOU WILL KNEEL, YOU WILL CONFESS then BURN for ETERNITY!!!”

I am not sure, because the wording is quite subtle, but reading between the lines I think I am supposed to be frightened but for some reason I feel like laughing.

Also, a technical question: What’s the point of kneeling and confessing if I am going to burn for eternity anyway? Doesn’t seem like much point, no? Especially since at my age kneeling and getting up is not as easy as it used to be.

If it actually comes to pass that I find myself being told to kneel and confess before being sent off to burn for eternity, I would probably give the confessor a good long rant about the design of knees and how it applies to my lack of bendability.